Hospitalizations Plunge As Prince George's Continues To Recover

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — Prince George's County showed signs of improvement last week. Infections plummeted. Hospitalizations plunged. And deaths decreased. This progress led Prince George's County Public Schools to announce last Wednesday that optional hybrid classes will start in April.

There is still room for improvement, however. Cases are still about as high as the second wave that the county battled over the summer. Intensive Care Unit hospitalizations increased last week. Prince George's is still facing immunization hesitancy, and the county ranks last in coronavirus vaccine rollout.

Last week's 1,034 infections are down 403 from the week prior. The virus also killed 14 county residents last week, which is 16 fewer than the week before, the Maryland Department of Health said. Here's a look at where the numbers stand in Prince George's County.

Vaccine Update

• Currently: 6.13 percent
• Trend: Up by 0.83 percentage points

The state tallies the number of Marylanders who have gotten the immunization on this website. So far, 55,692 Prince George's County residents have gotten their first shot. That's up by 7,513 from last week, and it's 6.13 percent of the population.

Prince George's County continues to have the lowest vaccination rate in the state. The second slowest jurisdiction, neighboring Charles County, has already immunized 8.32 percent of its population. Kent County leads the way with 19.98 percent inoculation.

The second dose has reached 21,928 Prince Georgians. That's 6,890 more than a week ago, and it's 2.41 percent of all county residents.

For more information on Prince George's vaccination plan, click here. To see when you'll be eligible for the inoculation, read Patch's explainer. Check out our how-to guide to learn how to sign up for the shot.

Coronavirus Case Rate

• Currently: 17.78
• Trend: Down by 1.01

Health officials focus on several metrics to evaluate the coronavirus pandemic. The most commonly used are the case rate, hospitalizations and percent positivity.

The case rate is a per-capita measure that makes it easy to compare places with different populations. A jurisdiction's case rate is the average number of new coronavirus infections-per-day that it registers over a rolling week per 100,000 people.

Prince George's County's case rate is still above its summertime low, but it has fallen to 17.78. That's down by 1.01 from this time last week. The case rate was even lower last Wednesday when it reached 17.61. That was the lowest since Nov. 5, 2020. The case rate has plummeted since Jan. 14, when Prince George's set a record high of 58.83.

The county's case rate hit a previous peak of 38.85 on May 7, 2020. It reached an all-time low of 7.57 on July 2, 2020.

Hospitalizations

• Currently: 143
• Trend: Down by 31

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations declined for the seventh straight week, but they are still soaring. The disease left 143 Prince George's County residents hospitalized on Sunday. That's down 31 from the week prior, and it's the lowest since the week of Nov. 15, 2020.

Prince George's is easing down from its Dec. 27 peak of 217 hospitalizations, which were the second-most ever. The record high of 244 came in the week of May 3, 2020. Hospitalizations hit an overall low of 44 in the week of Sept. 20, 2020.

ICU Hospitalizations

• Currently: 60
• Trend: Up by 2

Covid ActNow, a coronavirus statistics website, estimates that Prince George's County has 122 beds in the intensive care unit. Hospitals need to save some of these beds for emergencies that aren't related to coronavirus.

Last week, Prince George's had 60 patients in the ICU with the virus. That's up by two from the week prior.

ICU hospitalizations have been more volatile than total hospitalizations. They have fluctuated between 58 and 69 since early January. ICU hospitalizations peaked at 75 in the week of Dec. 27, 2020 after they bottomed out at 11 in the week of Aug. 2, 2020.

Positivity Rate

• Currently: 5.86 percent
• Trend: Up by 0.12 percentage points

The county's positivity rate increased slightly. This is the percentage of coronavirus tests that come back positive over a moving seven days.

The statistic also measures whether an area has enough tests to identify most of its infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a positivity rate of less than 5 percent demonstrates that a region has enough testing to control its outbreak.

Prince George's County's positivity rate rose to 5.86 percent on Sunday, which is up by 0.12 percentage points from this time last week. The positivity rate was even lower last Wednesday when it dipped to 5.72. The percent positivity hadn't been that low since Nov. 7, 2020.

The rate has declined since Jan. 3. That's when the positivity rate peaked at 11.92 percent, which was the highest since June 5, 2020. The positivity rate is down from its May 2, 2020 high of 41.95 percent, but it's still up from its Sept. 24, 2020 low of 3.46 percent.

Total Cases And Deaths

Prince George's County's 72,250 coronavirus infections are the most in the state. The virus is blamed for the death of 1,278 county residents.

RELATED:

• Vaccine Update: 5 Percent Of Prince George's Has Gotten The Shot
• Coronavirus Vaccine: Prince George's County Lays Out Timeline
• How To Get Coronavirus Vaccine In Prince George's County
• Hybrid Classes Will Start In Prince George's County
• Hogan, Rutherford Tackle Vaccine Hesitancy In Prince George's

Have a story idea? Please contact me at jacob.baumgart@patch.com with any pitches, tips or questions. Follow me on Twitter @JacobBaumgart and on Facebook @JacobBaumgartJournalist to stay up-to-date with the latest Anne Arundel County and Prince George's County news.